Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Short Interest Update

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 20,410,000 shares, a decline of 7.9% from the August 15th total of 22,150,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.6 days. Approximately 3.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FITB has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Fifth Third Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fifth Third Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.56.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock traded up $0.11 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.62. 3,962,842 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,653,366. The company has a market cap of $29.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.50, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.02. Fifth Third Bancorp has a twelve month low of $22.49 and a twelve month high of $43.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.04). Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.41% and a return on equity of 15.79%. The company had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This is a positive change from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.98%.

Insider Activity at Fifth Third Bancorp

In related news, Director Mitchell Stuart Feiger sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total transaction of $494,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,961 shares in the company, valued at $863,802.81. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, Director Mitchell Stuart Feiger sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total value of $494,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $863,802.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 114,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,805,724. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,269,920. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fifth Third Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morningstar Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $2,257,000. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 88,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,056,000 after purchasing an additional 21,251 shares in the last quarter. Park National Corp OH increased its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 15.0% during the second quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 41,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,514,000 after buying an additional 5,411 shares during the last quarter. rhino investment partners Inc raised its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. rhino investment partners Inc now owns 1,301,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,891,000 after buying an additional 217,956 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 291,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,043,000 after buying an additional 21,612 shares during the period. 83.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Fifth Third Bank, National Association that engages in the provision of a range of financial products and services in the United States. It operates through three segments: Commercial Banking, Consumer and Small Business Banking, and Wealth and Asset Management.